My personal list of (smallish) suggestions to make the game even more enjoyable

[iAmBlackEagle]

First of all: I was waiting for the game quite a while and so far I really enjoy it! Thanks to the whole development/publishing team for this one!
But I must admit it definitely has some flaws (UI, controls, etc) which could be improved to make the game even better!

In this list I'm trying to portrait the things I personally would like to see improved/added. I'm not claiming no one else had some of these ideas, but I definitely haven't read all threads about it
Also, I'm solely talking about (smallish, or maybe not? ) improvements of the current state of the game, not potential additional features/content (which I'm sure will come with the expansions).


General comment: I'm playing the PC/steam version of the game. Especially some problems with the 'style' of the UI look to me as if this is because of the console versions? Just a guess from my side.

So let's start (in no particular order):

• Shuttles and storages:
  • Configurable prioritization of shuttle deliveries (e.g. food over electronics over metals)
    
  • More configurations for stockpiles, like "always (try to) keep 5 electronics at THIS storage"
• Building/maintenance priorities:
  • Have a button for "prioritize this building NOW over all others until issue fixed". Scenario: a disaster hit and and 20 of your buildings need drone maintenance plus you are building some. You have made use of the three priority classes but your resources are way too limited and your drones too busy to care for all of it.
• Rovers:
  • Command queue. This has two effects: Not having to constantly watch if they are idle and also get around some pathfinding issues
    
  • Make them use the tunnels by default
    
  • more options for the trade route (e.g.: "take 5 food, 5 polymers and 10 metal on every run from A to B"
• Domes
  • declaration of a "dome group", sharing social buildings (maybe just some of the bigger ones like casino, but still every dome needs a grocer). With that maybe also merge the accessible area for workers outside the domes for such a group.
• Colonist management
  • ability to move/assign a group of colonists (Scenario: I have a new dome where I want to have them and the old one I want to redevelop, hence deconstruct one or two of the living quarters)
  • Allow a building to have workers of all type or force it to have specialists only.
• Some specific buildings:
  • Tunnels: allow for different lengths, costs according to the length. Also, a meteor hit on a tunnel entrance currently destroys the whole tunnel which is insanely expensive to rebuilt!

• General stuff
  • Selection of default skins while setting up the game
  • Skins accompanied by fitting icon at bottom of the screen to be able to distinguish between different rovers/domes (e.g. having a white explorer and a blue one)
  • Access to selected starting settings (company, mystery, commander, coordinates (! maybe you wanna share them afterwards) ) from inside the game, not to change them but as simple information
  • More hotkeys, and also display the existing ones inside the game
  • tech screen scrolling waaaaay to slow
  • max zoom level increase
  • box-select several drones/rovers
  • more than 3 prio levels and distinguish between drone prio/power prio/colonist prio
  • ability to reorder the pinned buildings at bottom of screen
  • state resource cost of upgrade in tech tree
  • Add to settings: choose interval for auto saves !! (especially since I'm having some random crashes atm this would help a lot!)
    
  • in dome filter: right-click for 'back' and double-click for 'confirm', to have less mouse cursor movement
  • an even faster game speed for those moments where you are simply just waiting

I'm pretty sure not all things come to my mind right now so I may add some points if I remember them or stumble over them in the next games.

I'm really hoping the devs are reading here a address some of these things.
Thanks again for the game!

 

[AlknicTeos]

I can agree with all your points
I also would like to limit domes population by a number, so that the homeless debuff on birth can be avoided. Also sometimes, even when I don't allow children in a dome ( I have special domes therefor ), they won't migrate in these domes. .... but that's necessary 'cause Domes can't make a group right now.

But what is missing is Drone Control. Right now it's a little bit too much micro to reassign them. Let's have some for a station and some, that switch station by demand. And stockpiling configuration. It's always much micro need for a new Dome center region right now

 

[Marcus]

Excellent suggestions!

 

[iAmBlackEagle]

I can agree with all your points
I also would like to limit domes population by a number, so that the homeless debuff on birth can be avoided. Also sometimes, even when I don't allow children in a dome ( I have special domes therefor ), they won't migrate in these domes. .... but that's necessary 'cause Domes can't make a group right now.

But what is missing is Drone Control. Right now it's a little bit too much micro to reassign them. Let's have some for a station and some, that switch station by demand. And stockpiling configuration. It's always much micro need for a new Dome center region right now

Yes, pop limitation was also one of the things I forgot to mention. Grouping/Connecting domes should solve that though.

Drone control: I used to have that issue,too and still have it, but mainly in between a drone hub and a rover. If I want to transfer drones in between hubs you can just 'scrap' them back to prefabs ad one hub and rebuilt from that at the second one. Took me some hours to come up with that, though
But being able to multi-select (box select) a group of drones would come in very handy, true.


Added to the original post (to keep it tidy from the start )
- box select units
- max zoom level
- scrolling in tech screen

 

[Xeorm]

Here's some of my own:

• More prioritization levels. There's currently three, and I'd like at least 5. Three is too small.
• An option to remove hints once I've seen them that goes across playthroughs. I usually like leaving hints on for games in case I come across something new, but dislike having to cross them out for all the ones I've already seen.
• Automatic option for rovers. One for the explorer that has him go to new anomalies and research, otherwise find a charging point. Then two for the transport rover, one to find metal and bring to the nearest storage point, the other for polymer.
• A button that limits a building to specialists only.

 

[Lykanion]

...

Yes, excellent suggestions! Would like to see all of them in the game.

 

[artyspoor]

Middle mouseklick in the map puts you in the basic map zooms in

 

[Boyan_Haemimont]

That's a good list of suggestions and we're already looking into a lot of these. The upcoming patch will allow use of WASD and mouse scroll for scrolling the research tree - that hopefully will alleviate the scrolling issues though I'm going to check to see if we can't speed it up a bit as well.

 

[Cymsdale]

That's a good list of suggestions and we're already looking into a lot of these. The upcoming patch will allow use of WASD and mouse scroll for scrolling the research tree - that hopefully will alleviate the scrolling issues though I'm going to check to see if we can't speed it up a bit as well.

Please let us turn off edge scroll completely.

 

[Zulark.]

That's a good list of suggestions and we're already looking into a lot of these. The upcoming patch will allow use of WASD and mouse scroll for scrolling the research tree - that hopefully will alleviate the scrolling issues though I'm going to check to see if we can't speed it up a bit as well.

Thx.

 

[dumbo11]

The problem with prioritisation is that it means multiple things:
- I want my drones to prioritise repairing this factory.
- I want my drones to prioritise transport of goods to/from this factory.
- I want all of my colonists to leave their job and work at this factory.

There should be a separate priority for drones and colonists. (I'm not even sure that having a priority for colonists is required)

 

[Ri0Rdian]

- Transport rovers that know they can't make the route and so will first charge and then move
- A bigger storage building that would actually require some materials to build and maintain. With A LOT bigger capacity. So that I do not have tens of storages splattered all over the place.
- Next / Previous Song button for currently playing Radio station!

 

[AlknicTeos]

Another further idea, when dome groups are coming ( not if ^^, when ), is to scale dome buildings. I mean with that, schools with only 3 hexes ( smaller ), 10 hexes ( normal), and a bigger one with 30 hexes, but no triangle shape, instead like right now fitting 3 x 10 hex buildings in one big field. Maybe also a tiny school with only 1 hex ^^. The bigger the single building the more efficient it shall become or get some extra functions.
If we would have such dome groups with bigger and smaller types of building types, then the capacity usage by shifttime would be also something I would like to know then.
Or domes with a sanatorium only has people with this weakness in this dome. ... hm, but with dome groups spire buildings should work little bit different. Maybe sanatorium as only spire building works for every inhabitant in the dome group, but the other not ( just for their dome). .... tricky ... and you can get there by car ( street and cars for connecting domes )

 

[Suzaku]

- Transport rovers that know they can't make the route and so will first charge and then move
- A bigger storage building that would actually require some materials to build and maintain. With A LOT bigger capacity. So that I do not have tens of storages splattered all over the place.
- Next / Previous Song button for currently playing Radio station!

If the storage unit requires materials better darn well protect elements, meteors, dust storms and even theft.

 

[iAmBlackEagle]

That's a good list of suggestions and we're already looking into a lot of these. The upcoming patch will allow use of WASD and mouse scroll for scrolling the research tree - that hopefully will alleviate the scrolling issues though I'm going to check to see if we can't speed it up a bit as well.

Thanks, great to hear that and to see that some stuff is already in the latest patch
I've just realized there is an extra category for suggestions and feedback, maybe someone who's able to use the force can move this thread there?

And I spent some more time on Mars and came up with some more ideas, added these to the original post as well:

• General stuff
  • more than 3 prio levels and distinguish between drone prio/power prio/colonist prio
  • ability to reorder the pinned buildings at bottom of screen
  • state resource cost of upgrade in tech tree
  • Add to settings: choose interval for auto saves !! (especially since I'm having some random crashes atm this would help a lot!)
    
  • in dome filter: right-click for 'back' and double-click for 'confirm', to have less mouse cursor movement
  • an even faster game speed for those moments where you are simply just waiting